S
ummer camp: a time for roasting marshmallows for s’mores,
exhausting your supply of bug spray that your mother made
you pack, hiking through the wilderness and fostering
friendships. But kids aren’t the only ones enjoying their time in the crisp,
mountain air. For some adults, it’s not too late to head back to
camp this summer, too.

Susan Silverman has been an avid camper since she was a
kid herself.

She will be heading to Camp Nock-A-Mixon in Kintnersville
for her ninth summer this June, three of which were spent as a
counselor when she was in college.

Her job at the camp has varied over the years, but she is mainly
in charge of running the cooking class, where she and the campers
make one or two recipes each week based on a different theme.

She also has been a supervisor to the junior and middle girls and
still teaches swim to the junior girls, tutors Bar and Bat Mitzvah stu-
dents and transports staff to the bus or train station on their days off.

“I love interacting with the kids. I love interacting with the
staff. I enjoy being away from home in summer,” said Silverman,
who lives in Chalfont during the other three seasons of the year.

14 MAY 12, 2016
And during that time, she teaches preschool at several Bucks
and Montgomery county schools, as well as Hebrew school.

Silverman has such a strong connection to summer camp be-
cause she attended Adventureland Day Camp in Bensalem for
18 years growing up.

“I am still friendly with some of those kids that I grew up with,”
she added. “When I worked at Nock-A-Mixon in college, I made
some really good friendships that I still have. There’s just something
so special about spending your summer with a group of girls or
boys that you just have special bond with that you can’t get with
anybody else.”
The majority of the campers at Nock-A-Mixon are Jewish, and
Silverman said she hopes her own children maintain these special
bonds over the years.

Chalfont isn’t a predominantly Jewish area, so she emphasized
that “it’s important for me that my kids developed relationships
with Jewish children.”
“They have these bonds with these kids that they don’t have
with anybody else,” said Silverman, who belongs to Congregation
Beth Or in Maple Glen.

In addition to her own children fostering friendships, she has
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the opportunity to share her summer camp experience
with her children, Jeffrey, 20, and Carly, 17 — though
they do get to have some of their own independence,
too. Both attended Nock-A-Mixon for nine years. Jeffrey
spent one summer as a counselor, and Carly will follow that
same path this year.

“It’s such a great experience,” Silverman said. “I just feel so hon-
ored and so blessed that I was able to work at a camp so that my
kids were able to go to camp.”
She said the camp owners, Mark and Bernice Glaser, know every
single kid. Her son attended the camp before she started working
there, so she was able to see the other side of camp as a parent.

When she received the infamous summer camp letter from her
soon-to-be sixth-grader Jeffrey — with some lines like “I miss you,”
“I’m lonely” and “come get me” — she called the camp.

Within 10 minutes, both Glasers checked in on him and called
Silverman back, saying he was now walking up from the lake and
having a great time with new friends.

It’s the subtle behind-the-scenes extra care and attentiveness that
makes summer camp so special.

When she was a camper, the summer was all about being with
her friends and playing sports.

“Now, as an adult at an overnight camp,” Silverman continued,
“you just meet people from all over. One of the things I really like
about driving counselors on their off days is that [Nock-A-Mixon
has] staff from England, and the kitchen and maintenance staff is
from Hungary and Poland, so none of them have cars.”
When she drives them around, “we get to chat, and it’s just so in-
teresting learning about them. It kind of makes me feel young at heart.”
Susan Silverman’s job at Camp Nock-A-Mixon has varied over the years, but she is mainly in
charge of running the cooking class, where she and the campers make one or two recipes each
week based on a different theme.

Bart Davis is also young at heart and will be 69 by the time the
festivities start at Camp Galil in June. He has worked there for 21
summers, now going on 22.

Camp Galil, located in Ottsville, was founded by an international
youth movement, Habonim Dror North America, the progressive
Labor-Zionist youth movement.

Davis primarily works as a liaison between the camp and parents
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